Helpful Score: 1
This is so tough for me to review that I really won't be able to do the book justice. I'll start from the beginning.
When I saw this featured on FirstReads I signed up immediately. After going to the books page I took myself out of the giveaway. I thought the book looked like one of those long, drawn out, overly flowery descriptive stories. That is just so not me. My first reading love is non-fiction (this borders on something I'll touch on in a sec) and I like it to be written as such. Life tends not to be flowery so that kind of fictional writing usually does nothing for me.
Also, as such a lover of non-fiction, I tend to shy away from exactly this sort of book. Fiction heavily relying on truth. Where's the line? I totally understand why some people enjoy this kind of writing. I can see the allure. But I, with my OCD, need either fiction or non-fiction. Not in between. Usually. I don't like guessing. I don't want to wonder if this was said or if that was really done. I want to know - or not know.
That wasn't the case here. Going back into what I started above, obviously I changed my mind about the book or I wouldn't have won it. I re-entered, won the book, and started it when it got here. It took me far longer to read than it should have. I usually finish an average sized book, no matter the genre, in 2-3 days. (The dates used here are approximate) and this took me a week, give or take a day or two.
The strange thing is this, when I put this down, I had to talk myself into picking it back up. But when I was reading it I didn't want to stop. I'd never experienced this before. It was perplexing to say the least. One word ran through my mind so many times while reading this - art. This man's writing is as close to art as can be. I've never come across a story that made me think this before and I've read thousands of books and loved hundreds and hundreds. This is really, nothing less than, art.
I was surprised to see the authors photo and how young he is. (Not that young people can't make great art and write magnificent stories.)
I had a bit of a problem with some of the wording. Not much in the usual sense but there are a lot of words, not used every day, that are inserted for what can only be called no good reason. It felt a little like, 'See how smart I am? I can use this word, in the right way, and it sounds great!' Blah. That didn't do much for me and I think it's going to turn a lot of folks right away from the book sadly. There were a decent number of words I'd never heard before and since, oh say, about 3rd grade I've always been told how fantastic my vocabulary is. An example:
**Please note** - this sentence was taken from an ARC copy and may differ from the actual book. Used for obvious purposes here.**
"Ambivalence: Rita felt forces all at all times pulling her in their contrapuntal direction, had always experienced argument and counterargument in simultaneity, had seemed always to want everything; to be pure and base, to make love to boys and to resist all boys, to join up with the communists, the anarchists, and also to deliver tirades on the absurdity of children of comfort and privilege dabbling in communism and anarchy."
'contrapuntal'. Never heard the word but without looking it up anyone with common sense and a decent grasping of context clues knows what it means. Was it necessary? I say no. I say it takes away from the book. A lot.
The authors intelligent isn't in those words. It's in all of the "little" words. It shined bright and clear and can't be missed IMO. It doesn't need to be packaged up in words like 'contrapuntal'.
That's my only complaint quite honestly.
A beautiful quote -
"The shame we have brought we have brought. The injury we have caused, we have caused. Why not try to turn that history into art? Why not say what happened?"
Another -
"...Perhaps everyone must walk the same tenuous bridge over the same rushing water, but most have the fortitude not to look down."
The Storm at the Door is a brilliant story. The author should be commended not only for bringing it to life and delving so far into his family's history but for writing about sensitive subjects with such tenderness.
I'm going to look into The Story of Forgetting: A Novel but honestly, unless I can tell the vocabulary isn't along the same lines as in this story, I won't take the chance. I can only imagine what the author might create without going to such vocab lengths. Something beyond what most people have ever experienced I'm sure.
When I saw this featured on FirstReads I signed up immediately. After going to the books page I took myself out of the giveaway. I thought the book looked like one of those long, drawn out, overly flowery descriptive stories. That is just so not me. My first reading love is non-fiction (this borders on something I'll touch on in a sec) and I like it to be written as such. Life tends not to be flowery so that kind of fictional writing usually does nothing for me.
Also, as such a lover of non-fiction, I tend to shy away from exactly this sort of book. Fiction heavily relying on truth. Where's the line? I totally understand why some people enjoy this kind of writing. I can see the allure. But I, with my OCD, need either fiction or non-fiction. Not in between. Usually. I don't like guessing. I don't want to wonder if this was said or if that was really done. I want to know - or not know.
That wasn't the case here. Going back into what I started above, obviously I changed my mind about the book or I wouldn't have won it. I re-entered, won the book, and started it when it got here. It took me far longer to read than it should have. I usually finish an average sized book, no matter the genre, in 2-3 days. (The dates used here are approximate) and this took me a week, give or take a day or two.
The strange thing is this, when I put this down, I had to talk myself into picking it back up. But when I was reading it I didn't want to stop. I'd never experienced this before. It was perplexing to say the least. One word ran through my mind so many times while reading this - art. This man's writing is as close to art as can be. I've never come across a story that made me think this before and I've read thousands of books and loved hundreds and hundreds. This is really, nothing less than, art.
I was surprised to see the authors photo and how young he is. (Not that young people can't make great art and write magnificent stories.)
I had a bit of a problem with some of the wording. Not much in the usual sense but there are a lot of words, not used every day, that are inserted for what can only be called no good reason. It felt a little like, 'See how smart I am? I can use this word, in the right way, and it sounds great!' Blah. That didn't do much for me and I think it's going to turn a lot of folks right away from the book sadly. There were a decent number of words I'd never heard before and since, oh say, about 3rd grade I've always been told how fantastic my vocabulary is. An example:
**Please note** - this sentence was taken from an ARC copy and may differ from the actual book. Used for obvious purposes here.**
"Ambivalence: Rita felt forces all at all times pulling her in their contrapuntal direction, had always experienced argument and counterargument in simultaneity, had seemed always to want everything; to be pure and base, to make love to boys and to resist all boys, to join up with the communists, the anarchists, and also to deliver tirades on the absurdity of children of comfort and privilege dabbling in communism and anarchy."
'contrapuntal'. Never heard the word but without looking it up anyone with common sense and a decent grasping of context clues knows what it means. Was it necessary? I say no. I say it takes away from the book. A lot.
The authors intelligent isn't in those words. It's in all of the "little" words. It shined bright and clear and can't be missed IMO. It doesn't need to be packaged up in words like 'contrapuntal'.
That's my only complaint quite honestly.
A beautiful quote -
"The shame we have brought we have brought. The injury we have caused, we have caused. Why not try to turn that history into art? Why not say what happened?"
Another -
"...Perhaps everyone must walk the same tenuous bridge over the same rushing water, but most have the fortitude not to look down."
The Storm at the Door is a brilliant story. The author should be commended not only for bringing it to life and delving so far into his family's history but for writing about sensitive subjects with such tenderness.
I'm going to look into The Story of Forgetting: A Novel but honestly, unless I can tell the vocabulary isn't along the same lines as in this story, I won't take the chance. I can only imagine what the author might create without going to such vocab lengths. Something beyond what most people have ever experienced I'm sure.
